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Boiler Bee Honey creates buzz at Purdue University

Boiler Bee Honey is now available at Purdue University. The food science and entomology departments worked together on the honey, that was collected from bees on campus and processed and bottled in the food science pilot plant.

Brock Harper is an assistant professor of entomology.  

“It was very serendipitous- we had a product and they had a plant we could process it in, so we joined forces and came out with Boiler Bee Honey,” he says.

He tells Brownfield it was a great learning experience for everyone involved.

“I’ve extracted honey on small scale before- I’ve been a beekeeper for about 15 years now – but I have never extracted honey on this scale nor had the students,” he says. “We extracted 3,000 pounds which is a light year for us here at the university.”

Harper says the process involved at least two dozen students as well as some staff members.

Audio: Brock Harper

Alyson McGovern, a sophomore in food science, was the student lead for the collaborative project.  

“My job was to make sure we were whole-sale approved for the state of Indiana so we could sell and bottle products,” she says. “I also was in charge of running the honey, processing it, making sure it was bottled correctly, and making sure student volunteers knew what to do.”

McGovern says something she took away from the project is how much time, effort, and people it takes to put a product on a shelf.

Audio: Alyson McGovern

The inaugural batch of raw, lightly filtered granulated honey produced about 3,000 bottles which will be available for purchase at the Boilermaker Butcher Block on campus. Proceeds will support research in food science and entomology.

Boiler Bee Honey was unveiled at the Purdue Ag Alumni Fish Fry.